STUDIES IN PLANT BREEDING 
I shall proceed to give a short account of the changes in the 
weather and general conditions to which each generation grown 
was exposed. 
(la) The first batch of seeds was sown on September 19th, 1902. 
The earlier half of the month had been wet, but no rain fell between 
September 21st and 30th; and the hot sun caused some damage 
to the seedlings just as they were appearing above the ground. 
Abundant rain set in at the beginning of October, and the weather 
continued to be very wet during the remainder of the life of the 
plants—a total period of a little more than three months. The 
plants, however, failed to recover and were all very weakly. This 
result was partly due to insufficient manuring, for the soil proved 
much poorer than I had been led to anticipate. 
A number of pollinations was performed upon the flowers of 
these plants, but only a small proportion of them was successful, 
and the pods which developed gave rise to a very small number of 
seeds. The seeds ripened in somewhat drier weather at the end of 
December, but there was very little crop to gather. 
(16) A further series was sown on October 20th ; and afterwards 
serial sowings of a few varieties were continued up to the middle of 
December. Heavy rain did some damage to the earlier series 
during October and November; and a strong north-east wind cut 
off the tops of the later plants in January and February. A batch 
sown towards the end of November did best, and upon these a few 
more crosses were made with better success, the seeds being gathered 
in dry weather during February and March. 
(2) Seeds obtained as a result of some of the crosses between 
the plants of series (la) were sown between December 12th and 19th, 
(1902). Nearly all the seeds that were sown germinated and the 
plants did well at first, appearing to derive some benefit from the 
cooler nights of January. Later on they suffered greatly from wind 
and drought, and many were killed in this way; those which 
survived gave only a poor crop. 
Trial plants from seeds sown in January and constantly 
watered produced quite remarkably stunted plants, which 
